I never understood that. Beyond DeLaurentiis's propensity for cutting, he was seriously threatening to undermine any rational motivation Mann's killer had (and Mann's principals, be they law-enforcement or law-breaker, always have a rational basis for their actions, however seemingly twisted), which would have sent the film spiralling into the bloo-drenched freak-show bin other Thomas Harris adaptations almost always fall into. Was it a case where Mann turned in a too-lengthy cut, or was it just De Laurentiis at his most arbitrary?

I don't care what anybody says, Tom Noonan and Brian Cox were the best psycho killers ever on the screen - one was perfect menace, the other pure evil.

Hear hear! I had occasion to watch this film again about a year ago, and after all those increasingly stupid Antony Hopkins turns as Hannibal Lecter I was stunned by how Brian Cox invested so much menace in that character with so little detail. Since both actors come from roughtly the same sort of theatrical background, you have to conclude that Cox simply has better instincts than the more-celebrated Welshman.

Petersen was great in this film, compare him to Ed Norton's relatively flat version of the same character in Red Dragon, which is more faithful to the book, but concocted by a hack.

There's an episode of CSI where they bring in Noonan for a bit of stunt casting as a bad guy, but it's still a fine episode.

Oddly enough, I have a pass to see a preview screening of Hannibal Rising tonight, but I think I'd rather chew tinfoil (bringing this post full circle).

BTW...among all the myriad reasons why Hannibal (both the book and the movie) was a steaming pile of donkey droppings is the fact that Will Graham's name doesn't come up once over the course of the story. You'd think they'd at least put in a phone call to the guy who put Lector away the first time...sheesh.